Even if you have an online-only business, being able to manually input sales can be important. Find out how virtual terminals can help you manage your sales you receive offline.
By now, owners of online businesses recognize the importance of being able to accept credit card payments online. It’s vital that customers are able to complete an order as soon as they see a product on a website that they want to purchase. Not being able to add an item to a cart and quickly complete a purchase all but eliminates the chance that a person will make an impulse purchase – exactly the type of purchase that online businesses need to thrive.
The good news is that because it is so easy to set up Internet merchant accounts, any business has the ability to accept online credit card payments. But what many businesses don’t think about when setting up their eCommerce merchant account is the value of being able to enter in sales on their own. Just being able to take sales through your website isn’t enough. You need to be able to manually input orders as well.
Why is this important? You might receive an email or a phone call from a customer who has questions about your product. After you answer their questions, they are ready to purchase. That’s great, but now the customer has to log back onto your website and take all the steps needed to complete the online order. Those are additional barriers to a sale that you should try to avoid.
The solution to this problem is to use virtual terminals. These are computer programs offered as part of online merchant accounts that allow you to close sales by entering in credit card information manually. As you are on the phone with a customer, you can close the sale and take their credit card information over the phone. It will be processed immediately, so your customer can receive a receipt and you can start fulfilling their order.
Companies such as Charge.com Payment Solutions, Inc. offer a wide range of virtual terminal options that help small businesses have more freedom when it comes to taking credit card payments. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can enter in a credit card sale made by phone, email or even through standard mail. These virtual terminals have all of the same features that you would expect from a standard electronic keypad terminal, but everything is done through your computer screen. All you need is a computer with Internet access and you can input any credit card transaction that comes your business’ way.
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This article was written by Charge.com Payment Solutions, Inc. They offer eCommerce merchant account services including virtual terminals. Find out about their online merchant accounts at www.charge.com.
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